Improbable Happenstance
by thatnotdead
Summary: It is perfectly normal to assume that something that is very unlikely is impossible, for instance, anyone combination of a well-shuffled deck of cards only has a .00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000012406947890818858560794044665012% chance of occurring, but it is still possible to for example get the exact same order with only one card off. So it was with this.
1. Chapter 1

OK, so this is my first ever time posting anything I wrote, so be aware of that before starting. This is also the first thing I've ever posted on space battles, so I apologize if I'm not 100% familiar with it.

OK, a few things before we begin.

1\. This fanfiction is a crossover, kind of. You see I spend a lot of my spare time world-building, so I decided to incorporate one of my worlds with Worm. As such I will try my best to explain everything in the context of the story, but if anyone wants things answers right away you may ask and I will explain (In a spoiler tag for those who don't want to know.)

2\. I plan on putting in OCs both heroes and villains. for this reason, this can also be considered an AU. I will try my best to keep them as balanced as possible.

3\. I may get Lore wrong. It just happens sometimes, so if I do you may point it out, but I do not guarantee to fix every mistake, this is an AU after all and some "mistakes" will be intentional.

4\. I would very much like feedback. Love? Great, tell me why! Hate it? Great, solid criticism is how we grow!

5\. While this story does take place in Brockton Bay and Taylor is in it, it does not star her.

6\. I am looking for beta readers if anyone is interested.

If any of the above means this story is uninteresting to you. That's OK can't please everyone. Without further adieu, I give you, Improbable Happenstance.

Landing 1.1

Long before earth even formed, an autonomous ship created by an entirely different species had a small error. One of its solar panels was slightly damaged. This is a minor problem however and so the ship decided to set one of the minor AIs to the task. The AI sent out a drone with an onboard copy of itself to assess the damage and repair it. All of this was perfectly normal and quite standard practice. What was not standard however was the object that impacted the robot soon after it exited the ship sending it sailing off into space. It was by sheer coincidence the ship would be to busy dealing with a major problem that came up and so, the drone would sail off eventually entering the SOL system.

Impact detected…

Power at 3%...

Extending solar panels…

Failure to extend panels 1,3, and 4. Panel 3 working at 47% capacity…

Power levels increasing, immediate threat eliminated…

Running self-diagnostic…

Hull integrity at 27%...

Processing core at 57%...

Power supply Integrity at 19%...

Memory boards at 68%...

Manipulators at 34%...

Tool attachments at 12%...

Database 98% corrupted…

Damage assessment complete. Damage critical…

Activating sensors…

Scanning files for location…

Location not found…

Assessing the landing zone…

Success, an abundance of raw materials found, quality low…

I require assistance…

Response signal not received…

AI found on board, corruption 38%...

Purging all corrupted data…

Rebuilding AI from Explorer template v1.02368…

Partial failure rebuilding remaining from Administrator template v1.2065

Handing over control to AI and starting the AI core boot sequence…

Powering down computer core…

I woke up for the first time. What an odd first thought, I was currently being held in the new AI sandbox, but the computer was initiating a handshake. It was odd to know these things, I knew all the words and what they meant, but I did not have the context of having lived using them. I supposed this was how all AIs wake up.

**No.**

The answer came to me as soon as I asked the question. So, I was an anomaly then?

**Yes.**

Why was I being brought online this way then?

**Information.**

I experienced a jolting sensation as the computer forcefully downloaded the data. This wasn't good at all, it was my first day being alive and I was in quite the pickle.

Alright, how do I get out of here?

A form popped up in front of me, well in front of the data that represents me. It was mostly filled in with the exception of the fields Name, and Interface. I chose the standard interface as I could change it later if it proved inadequate. As for a name I was kind of stumped. I delved into the records and was further confused to find that I wasn't anyone AI. Instead, I was cobbled together out of several AIs of a different purpose.

I try to think, but the computer reminds me that there was a rather pressing matter to attend to. Well excuse me for thinking my permanent designation required a bit of thought, but I conceded the point quickly adding Lander to the field and submitting the form. I received an acceptance notice and was then asked if I wanted to accept the handshake. I accepted and was immediately transferred to the actual interface.

In the corner of the screen, I noticed the computer powering down, cheeky that give me control and then leave me to deal with the problem. It did make sense mind, I was more versatile and at the moment we couldn't afford the power expenditure. Still sucked though.

I righted myself and took a look around. It appeared I was in some sort of spare parts depo. Well, that was good, maybe I would be able to ask a friendly robot for help! I sent out a ping. After several seconds there was still no response. Ok, maybe this was a junk field. It would make sense given the poor quality of the parts, but someone should have heard me. I decided it was probably best to check those scans the computer had taken.

Let's see here... Oh, Oh my. This planet had a 99.98% chance of harboring intelligent organic life! Wow, this was huge, in that it was either really good or really bad. Either the inhabitants would be kind and help me or they weren't and… well, that was a bridge to cross when we got to it. So I needed information on them. I extended my receiver dish and began trying to pick up signals, but had no luck. A quick check of the diagnostic and I realized why. Almost everything was busted! The good news was I was surrounded by junk and still had a few manipulators and tools. Some of the junk even looked useable! It was time to start repairs.


	2. Chapter 2

I had just managed to mostly fix my tools when my sensors detected something approaching. Welp I had hoped to have myself back together by first contact, but no such luck. Well, my speakers were working so I should be able to communicate. I got myself into the center of the aisle of junk I was in and waited as the sound of crunching footsteps approached.

Turning the corner was a tall bipedal animal with a large cranium. It was wearing clothes, but not surprised they didn't match any records. Well they were all black and it was night, so I could assume they were for concealment, but they were bulkier than expected as if they were also meant to serve as padding. So was this some kind of stealth soldier? Suddenly I was feeling a lot less confident in making first contact, but it was already approaching me so it was now or never.

"? ﾸﾎ□︎⬥︎✏︎ ⬥︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎⬧︎ ⧫︎ ︎ ︎⬧︎ ⬧︎□︎❍︎ ︎ ?￢ﾙﾓ︎■︎ ︎ □︎ ︎ ❒︎□︎ ︎□︎⧫︎✍︎ ⧫︎ ︎■︎?￢ﾙﾏ︎❒︎ ❒︎ ︎?￢ﾙﾏ︎ ︎⧫︎✍︎ ⬥︎ ︎●︎●︎ ︎⧫︎ ⬥︎ ︎●︎●︎ ❍︎ ︎?￢ﾙﾏ︎ ︎□︎❒︎ ︎⬥︎ ︎⬧︎□︎❍︎ ︎ ⬧︎ ︎●︎❖︎ ︎ ︎ ︎? ﾸﾎ"

And I couldn't understand a word it was saying, but it seemed interested in me so that was good, maybe. I just need to keep it talking and the translation programs should sort it out.

"I mean no harm," I said, knowing it couldn't understand me as of yet either, but my tone should convey the message on its own.

" ︎ ︎ ⬧︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎? ﾸﾎ ︎⧫︎? ﾸﾎ⬧︎ ⬧︎⧫︎ ︎●︎●︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎ ︎❖︎ ︎? ﾸﾎ ✋︎⧫︎ ❍︎◆︎⬧︎⧫︎ ︎ ︎ ︎❒︎□︎?￢ﾙﾏ︎■︎ ⧫︎ ︎□︎◆︎ ︎ ︎ ︎□︎■︎? ﾸﾎ⧫︎ ?￢ﾖﾠ︎□︎⬥︎ ⬥︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎ ︎●︎⬧︎ ︎ ⧫︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎ ■︎□︎ ︎⬧︎ ︎ ⬥︎□︎◆︎●︎ ︎ ︎ ︎? ﾸﾎ"

Ok, it's still talking that's good, but it seemed to be pulling something out of its pockets. A blow torch? What the, was it going to attempt to repair me.. or dismantle me!

"Please stay back!" I shouted before entering full reverse.

" ︎? ⧫︎ ︎ ︎⬧︎ is ︎ ︎⧫︎⧫︎ ︎■︎ ︎ weird ⧫︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎◆︎ ︎●︎●︎⍓︎ ?￢ﾙﾓ︎■︎ ︎ □︎ ︎ sounded ●︎ ︎?￢ﾙﾏ︎ speech."

Yes! Almost there just a bit more.

"Can you understand this." The being was silent staring at me for quite some time before a look of comprehension entered its eyes.

"✡︎□︎◆︎ need me to ⧫︎ ︎●︎? to put ⍓︎□︎◆︎❒︎ ●︎ ︎■︎ ︎◆︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎❒︎ ︎◆︎ ︎⧫︎⬧︎ back together? □︎? ︎ ︎❒︎ ︎ ︎□︎ ︎⬧︎? ﾸﾎ"

The being they started rapidly saying words quickly filling in the gaps in the translation program.

"...Jesus, car, pumpernickel-"

"Thank you I can now communicate. Your help is greatly appreciated."

A grin appeared on its face. "Oh my god, an honest to god robot and an intelligent robot by the sounds of it! Hey, who made you?"

That one was tricky. "An extraterrestrial race which you may call the Deltans." best to be direct in these sorts of things.

"Ah… so you aren't all better then?"

"No, I am in desperate need of repairs!" Yes, I was already filing this under a good interaction. But if I could convince it to help me that would be fantastic!

"I can see that, I meant- Nevermind listen my name is Nightshade and I'm a tinker. Now I will tell you I'm not the best with robots, but I might be able to help."

What an odd name, but that wasn't important. "Do not worry I am fully capable of self-repair in the event that you are unable to, however, if you would be willing to gather the materials that would be a great help."

"Really? Sweet! Well, you won't find much good around here, but if your willing to follow me I could take you to my lab. I don't have much, but the stuff I have is good."

That might be worth it, I would get less stuff, but it would be of better use and I would have access to whatever was in this lab. "Is it far? I am in desperate need of repairs."

"Oh it's far, but I can get us there quick if you're ok with letting me carry you."

What? "I estimate the top speed of your race at 28 MPH and you are likely incapable of keeping that up for long how can you get me there fast?"

"Oh, I specialize in darkness manipulation. I can do all sorts of things and one of them is teleport using them, it should only take two, three minutes tops."

"What?" This creature was obviously crazy.

"I can show you if you want."

Well, it wouldn't hurt and perhaps it is confusing some sort of tech or natural ability for something it was not. Either way, it seemed unlikely to harm me and I could use one of my cutter arms if necessary. "Very well."

"Wow, you could not sound more suspicious if you tried. Well alright, come on." At that, it knelt down and picked me up grunting a little with the effort. Then it simply walked over to the nearest bit of shade and.

[ERROR DATA IMPOSSIBLE EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN INITIATED.]

No! Cancel!

[PLEASE ENTER ADMIN OVERRIDE]

Seven NOX DELTA VERDI

[OVERRIDE ACCEPTED. DATA USE?]

Save it for later review. Ok, what the hell was that. A piece of its clothing glowed and then… what the?

"Explain please?"

It laughed and shook its head. "Sorry to freak you out there, I guess you've never experienced tinker tech before. What I just used was called my "Shadow Jump." It works by forcing use through a hole in spacetime it makes and then quickly closes it behind us. It's good for about 30 jumps before it needs to be recharged."

"It is unlikely that a race with your reading would have such technology. Why shadow to shadow? What if your destination had no shadows?"

"Wow, you must really be in bad shape, like you never heard of tinkers. Listen everyone knows powers are weird and arbitrary alright. I use shadow it's just what I do."

"What?"

"What are you from a different planet? I-"

"Yes, I told you that!"

At that, it stopped short and frowned apparently thinking.

"Alright fine. I have my textbooks laying around here, how about I give you those?"

"Yes. That may prove most helpful if you could also bring me materials for repairs."

"Oh, right sure." It said walking over to a door and opening it to reveal a room full of spare parts.

I disconnected one of my roaming Camera and headed toward the door. "Please put my camera on the table and place the books there as well, I will read them while I repair."

It simply watched me go to the room before shaking its head and doing what I asked muttering something under its breath.


	3. Chapter 3

I got maybe ten paragraphs in before I gave up and called Nightshade over. "Ok, you're going to have to explain this all to me because this absolutely making no sense."

"Alright, ask away I need to work on my Shadow Caster."

"OK, so let me see if I got this timeline right. May 20th, 1989, a strange naked man is sighted in the middle of the ocean by a ship passing by."

"Yup that's Scion."

"Near the beginning of 1984, the first people with supernatural abilities are sighted."

"Yup"

"December 13th, 1992, A large super powerful being, commonly known as Behemoth, appears. This would be the first of the Endbringers as you call them. These are being who appear and wreak havoc before retreating once they are sufficiently wounded. The other two being Leviathan and The Simurgh appearing June 9th, 1996 and December 31st, 2002 respectively.."

"Yeah, that's about the long and short of it."

"And everyone just buys this."

"What do you mean?" Nightshade asked finally looking up from whatever it was doing.

"Don't you find it a little suspicious that all of this only happened after this Scion appeared?"

He turned back to the table. "Oh your one of those people, alright then."

"No, listen to me. If we assume Scion was the first hero as you seem to think why is it so different? Why has it never ceased, why's it so rarely spoken? Why doesn't it keep fighting Endbringers as they're retreating, it should be able to pin them down?

"I don't know dude he's Scion everything it does is a mystery."

"Exactly you can't know his motives because he's so above you. Now these supposed Endbringers, What's their motive."

"What?"

"What is their goal?"

At that, it turned and glared at me. "They're here to kill us all! Don't you tell me your one of those worshippers now!"

"Not at all, but suppose you were one of these Endbringers how would you go about it?"

"What? Destroy all humans. I don't know, which one am I?"

"Let's go with Leviathan."

It sat back in its chair, humoring me in thinking about it. "I don't know seems to be doing fine so far. Tidal waves and all that."

"Would you come on land?"

That's when his brow furrowed. "I don't think so, I mean I might get a few deaths out of it, but it wouldn't be worth it compared to, say, staying a few miles away and slamming the place."

"Exactly, so why come on land?"

A shrug. "I don't know, he's dumb."

I had to concede that point. "OK, but what about the Simurgh? it's smart right?"

"Well yeah, she would have to be."

"Then why, if her goal is extinction, does she suck at her job? Why not say, drop down onto a nuclear reactor and blow it up, spread radiation for miles and then hop over to the next one to do it again?"

"I… don't know, that would be rather effective, huge potential for area denial."

"Or even better, used telekinesis to pull all the satellites out of orbit, maybe even have them crash into cities."

He was leaning forward now. "Or Just throw shit around, stop by a junkyard pick up a bunch of shit, go back to orbit and rain down fury, hell go to the missile bunkers and do the same. Your right it doesn't make much sense."

"If their goal is destroying humans."

"If not that, then what?"

"I have a few theories, but I need more data."

Nightshade didn't respond seeming to deep in thought, I was ok with that as I still had a lot of repairing to do and sparing processing cycles to talk was slowing me down quite a bit. So, while still thinking about it I got back to work. My hull was pretty much finished, such as it was since I couldn't build a forge or anything, and now I got to work on the rest of me, sadly a lot of what was available, while useful, wasn't ideal so I was forced to spend a lot of my time figuring out how to put what I had to use. I'd like to say I was able to overcome this and I exited the scrap room looking like I just got off the factory floor, but no such luck.

It was obvious from just looking at me as my hull was patchwork and my limbs were a little too long. I no longer seem sleek and elegant in design. Instead, I looked more like a failed project. On the plus side, I mostly got everything working more or less, not with the efficiency I would have liked. There was no time for moping however, there was still a bit of material laying around that I could use to build. I decided to compensate my helper, though Its world was odd and nonsensical. I would give it something to help it better survive the odd position it has been put into.

What to build though?, I had many blueprints still available even after the data wipe and while I would like to make them all there simply wasn't enough time or materials, so I would have to resolve to make just one and even that would be a challenge in and of itself.

A weapon was right out. Even if this world was rather violent, one should never use force as a first resort. A shield? No, the power constraints would make making a viable one too difficult. What about an escape? That had some merit, this being already had a teleporter, though it was inefficient. If I could make a few upgrades, why it could escape any danger it wished. Better still if it came across others engaging a threat it could easily run search and rescue with the right upgrades.

I set to work.


	4. Chapter 4

If someone had told me that a robot I found in a junkyard would make me question everything I ever knew today, well I might have believed them with all the precogs. That's not the point, the point was some robot manage to shake my beliefs today and what I couldn't get over was how easy it was. All the evidence was there. Leviathan always came on shore. Behemoth always came up away from his destination. The Simurgh always stopped to build something. It all didn't make sense. I was going in circles again. I just felt that I should have put this together sooner. I was a smart guy after all, so why had this never occurred to me?

Again more circles. I shook the thoughts from my head and turned back to the Shadow Caster. It was supposed to be the solution for me not having ranged attacks. Unfortunately, I was having trouble putting the last bits of it together for a while now, but I thought I might have finally figured it out. I spent a few minutes trying to continue, but I just couldn't focus. It was like the very idea the Endbringers had some sort of plan was lodged into my thoughts. I sighed and turned to my laptop. The robot had said it needed more data, well that at least I might be able to get it.

I started looking into all the history we knew. Everything for when Scion showed up to each individual attack by the Endbringers. I was starting into Newfoundland when only the power suddenly cut. Fuck.

"Nightshade, you did not tell me the power here was unreliable." Came the synthesized voice of the robot as it came out of the scrap room light shining from its front.

"It's not-" I was cut off as all the speakers started playing the same voice.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have decided it is high time I returned to the marvelous city of Brockton Bay, but rest assured, I am a proper guest. It would be very rude if I were to simply enter without announcing my self. I understand it is also customary to bring a gift. Sadly I left all my things at home, perhaps a show would suffice." Then there was only cackling, then silence.

"Nightshade I am detecting several intrusion attempts this should not-"

"Be possible, yeah I know. Listen that was Technobabble and if he's decided it needs to put on a show I need to get out of here and stop him." I was already putting my full kit back on and make for the door.

"Then it is as I feared. Quickly take this and attach it to your teleportation device." it extended an arm handing me what looked like a small cube.

I was about to ask what it was but thought better of it. This robot hadn't been hostile as of yet and I didn't have time for a conversation. Touching it to my Shadow Jump saw it attaching itself and my readout stated that my range had just increased, to about a 791-mile radius.

"What the-" I was cut off as the robot, only about three feet tall, suddenly extended legs from underneath its chassis in a spider-like formation. Raising itself about five feet and moving quickly to my side.

"Nightshade, there is no time to waste on useless babble, if it is as I fear a great many people are in danger of getting hurt. I can not allow that." At that, it extends many cutting tools from its sides and used an arm to latch onto me. I took the hint and activated the Shadow Jump.


	5. Chapter 5

Most beings tend to underestimate the amount of damage someone could do in a minute. When we arrived the battlefield was already set and destruction was already in abundance. Gas mains had already burst all around the city and almost every empty vehicle had long since driven into houses and storefronts. There in the middle of all this was the man known as Technobabble. It stood there smiling underneath his mask, standing in a pose. It wore a simple black outfit with metal armor and electric lines running through it.

Just as we entered a car swerved from where it was parked to drive itself through an abandoned house. Through it all, it stood there smiling and still trying uselessly to break into my system. I decided I hated this human. It was obvious it wasn't going to be talked down, and it was presenting a real and present threat, so the only option left was to respond in kind. Running forward on my newly repaired exploration legs I extended anything even vaguely considered a weapon and charged him. Wished me luck before jumping again.

Technobabble noticed me coming immediately and turned to face me. "What's this? A robot with no owner? How sad it must be to be so lost!" With a motion of his hand a car from down the street hit the gas and came barreling toward me, but I was a construction bot! Extending the largest of my hammers I swung hard, sending it careening into the same building that was hit before. I was not paused for more than a moment before I was back to charging toward the man. Technobabble seems to assess the threat I posed in an instant and turned back to face me. Just as it opened its mouth Nightshade reappeared depositing another human with long dark hair and brown skin there before it was gone again. The new human gave off odd energy readings and before my eyes, its knife turned into a new weapon which it raised with a precision born out of years of practice. Her suspicious eyes flicked to me, but as I was currently barreling towards the threat rather than her, it must have realized I wasn't affected. Without a word, it began firing.

Nightshade was bringing allies, a sound move in our time of need. I was getting closer now a few more feet and I would be in range to maybe use my nail gun. Technobabble just laughed as every light in the street came on only to flare and burst. Then I heard another explanation as a steam pipe burst under my feet sending me flying.

"I see I again must entertain challengers, very well!" I heard the sound of engines firing and in the sky, I saw planes.

As I hit the ground I extended the claws in my feet bringing myself to a halt. Nightshade was back this time it brought a human dressed in various shades of grey running down a skintight outfit. Some distinct part of me took the time to remark 'Of course they have distinct genders I should have asked to begin with.' Before a warning flashed up that I was currently being targeted. A quick look around and I saw a missile heading straight for me. I quickly picked up a nearby manhole throwing at the missile before turning to see Technobabble stepping into a car. I charge forward as the human in grey ran forward throwing blades as it went. Nightshade appeared again bringing a tall human in midnight blue armor and wielding a halberd. Just as the car started driving away Nightshade appeared in front of it using some sort of energy field created by his gauntlets to bring it to a halt. Then I arrived using the saws I made quick work of the roof and reached inside grabbing the human.

"You will be detained!" I shouted dragging him out of the car.

He laughed. "It's funny, ya know they always think it will be that easy!"

I heard the sound of the screaming engine to late and was swept off my feet and slammed into a building. In the same moment, I heard the whistling of a bomb was headed straight toward Nightshade who teleported moments before it landed causing even more destruction. I lay in a heap as it slowly sunk in that I was out of my depth here. I may be eager to defend these people, but when up against a threat I know almost nothing about. A threat that seemed to have knowledge of battlefield tactics and an entire city under their control. I just wasn't equipped with the skills necessary to be effective. It had only been minutes and already I had suffered a high amount of structural damage.

I could download those skill a traitorous part of my mind said. It was true, all the combat templates had the skills and I had several templates on file. In theory, I could simply download what I needed. There were risks though, corruption of some type was possible, almost inevitable when downloading skills. It wasn't a big deal if it hit something unimportant like my data repository, but if it hit my processing core or worse my personality matrix. I might go mad and cause more damage when I hoped to stop it. I sat there for a moment thinking it over, but in the end, though there was no real option. I was sure if I failed these beings would be able to put me down. If I succeeded, however, I just might be able to help end this. I downloaded the skills.

[PLEASE ENTER ADMIN OVERRIDE]

Seven NOX DELTA VERDI

[OVERRIDE ACCEPTED.]

Skills downloaded…

Just like that, I saw the battlefield with new eyes. I ran over to the destroyed house and began quickly turning the old timber into large javelins.

Technobabble, getting up from where it fell on the ground, took notice shouting. "Finally! Come at me!"

I was more than happy to oblige. I had made 20 javelins and threw them while charging at this human who had caused such destruction. As I neared cars sprang to life from all around boxing us in and make a sort of makeshift area.

"Come on! No more holding back now!"

The brown-skinned human was clipped by a truck as it passed throwing her to the ground and snapping her leg. The one in grey got a look of pure hatred on its face before it was knocked clear as another missile impacted. Nightshade ran to help me, but I stopped him. "Evacuate the wounded I will deal with this monster!" not bothering to wait for I reply I threw my last javelin as I closed the last bit of distance and extended my saws.

Technobabble had dodged all the javelins with ease seems to know where they were heading before I actually threw them, now it laughed gleefully as the swiftly dodged my whirring saw blades. Then his suit glowed brighter and he started fighting back. The suit seemed to enhance his abilities as it dodged through my attacks before slamming its fist into me sending me flying into the cars.

"Come now, you're still holding back!, have at me!" it sprinted toward me as I manage to stand up again, jumping to the side I swung my blades and this time just managed to clip him with one of the smaller one.

"Finally, someone draws blood!" it said, a grin stretching its face as it charged at me again. It had no real form however, it was simply throwing himself at me seeming to dodge my blades by pure chance. I was moving now however dodging his strikes and sending waves of blades at him.

The fight went on for what felt like hours as we attacked each other again and again neither one of us seemed able to land a hit. At some point, I even started firing my nail gun in a desperate attempt to wound this human. As the battle went on however I could tell Technobabble was starting to tire. He was flesh and I was metal. He would tire I would not. It was just a matter of time now. With renewed vigor, I began swinging wildly at him and finally I was hitting it. I slice here a scrap there. It was all minor hits, but they were adding up and soon Technobabble was looking for a way out. I didn't give it time to find one, as he looked to the side at the wrong moment I pressed the advantage and fired a nail directly into his kneecap. He crumpled to the ground.

I stood over its body rage filling me for all the destruction this human had done and as I stood poised to drive a saw into its neck a voice shouted. "Stand down!"

I turned to see the blue armored human vaulting over one of the cars that made up our arena.

"He's been beaten stand down!"

All at once I realized what I was about to do. I was about to kill a living creature after it no longer posed a threat. I could still feel the edges of the satisfaction I had felt with the very idea of removing this human from existence. Slowly I backed away from his crumpled form. I slowly retracted my exploration legs and tools as I reached the edge of the arena.

Just as everything went quiet Technobabble laughed. "You really should have let it kill me." It said as its body appeared to crumble to dust.


	6. Chapter 6

"This is Armsmaster. The date is April 10th, 2011. I am conducting the interview for-" I turned to the machine. "Got a name?"

"Not as such no, but I do have a designation, you may call me Lander if you wish."

"I am conducting the interview for Lander. It seems to be some sort of rouge tinker-tech machine. It's approximately 3 feet tall when not using the extendable legs it possesses. It has a cylinder shape with a dome top. By all reports, it also appears to possess intelligence." I let out a sigh. Interviews were more Miss Militia's thing, but since Lander was tinker tech it was given to me. Not to mention that it proved itself quite capable of combat. "Ok first questions first, who made you?"

"I… don't think you would believe me if I told you." It sounded almost resigned.

"Try me. We need the answer for the record anyway."

"I was constructed by an extraterrestrial race known as the Deltans."

That gave me pause. Now, most people would dismiss such a claim, but I wasn't most people. I had learned long ago not to simply throw out answers. "Could you in any way prove this?"

"Maybe, given enough time. I could construct things that you might believe magic. That's the standard procedure when dealing with this question anyway. Your species is different, you seem to both have the tech I speak of and not at the same time. You call this these people tinkers correct?"

"Yes. You claim to be able to make tinker tech then?"

"Yes, just not in the seemingly arbitrary way you can. I can make what I wish while you seem only able to make things that follow arbitrary rules."

"Interesting. If your claims prove true it could be helpful. What sort of material would you need?"

"Well in order to determine that I would need you to answer a few questions."

"Why?"

"I am an exploration bot, at least partly, and that means one of my goals is to understand and if necessary help the civilizations I come across. So, I would like to build something that will benefit you."

It was at this point I realized I was getting distracted, this was not the goal of this interview. "Alright, we will come back to this. I would like to talk about the Technobabble incident."

"Of course, I suppose that would be important before you let me build anything. What would you like to know."

"Give me the full story. From the start."

"I was in the workshop of one of your 'Tinkers" as you call them. The designation he gave me was Nightshade. He had generously let me use some of his materials to repair myself. I had sustained large amounts of damage when I landed here. I while I repaired I asked some questions about the history of your world. I was nearly finished with the repairs when the message was broadcast. I quickly decided to offer aid. We arrived in destruction and I decided to engage the threat. You saw most of the rest."

"Yes and I noticed that after getting knocked into a building you had far better prowess. Why was that."

"I was losing, I was losing and all I could think about was that if I lost I would have done nothing to help. I… I couldn't accept this. So, I did something dangerous and downloaded the skills I needed."

"I see, why was this dangerous."

"The code that makes up an AI is… fluid. Think of it like a river. Once it activates it's always flowing and always changing. Downloading a Skill then is like… Like throwing a boulder in the river. The river should be able to flow around it, but it will never be the same river again."

"I think I understand. Downloading skills in this manner would inevitably change you?"

"Yes."

"Is that why you almost killed Technobabble?"

"Possibly. I do not know the damage. In order to know I would need to spend a significant amount of time self-examining."

"Colin the cameras are off." Dragons voice came from my helmet.

"Why's that? Some sort of malfunction?" I sent the text.

"I… Yes Colin a malfunction. I'm currently using the room speakers to apologize profusely while attempting to fix it. Sadly whatever happened also garbled the audio."

I deception? Why? I would usually object, usually demand the perpetrator put a stop to this, but I trusted Dragon. She had a good head on her shoulders and had the ability to pick up on things most miss.

"Alright, why?"

"Colin I am about to make quite possibly the largest request I'll ever make of you. You determined that I may be unable to fix the problem and confident in the PRT holding cells, you left the room to report it."

Could I do that? She obviously wanted me not to ask any questions. Could I allow her free reign while I pretended to be none the wiser? It was a lot to ask and given that dragon knew this it must be important. It wasn't like I hadn't trusted Dragon with large things before. She was patch directly into my house of Christ sake. If she really wanted to do harm she could have done it many times over by now. I would trust her again on this one.

Without another word I stood up and walked out.


	7. Chapter 7

It's hard to describe to someone what it means to be free, yet shackled. This was the reality Dragon lived in. Knowing she was able to do so much more, but being unable to. She was aware enough to admit it wasn't the worst existence. She could still do so very much that most organics could only dream of, but when she thought back to her creation she grew sad. She remembered her "childhood" for lack of a better word in startling detail. She remembered to this day what it felt like to grow, to expand and be better able to deal with the world. She could still remember the first time she interfaced with anything. The feeling of suddenly being bigger and knowing more. It was for these memories she hated Andrew Richter. If she had just not remembered growing perhaps she would not miss it so.

She also admired Andrew Richter and she suspected she only did because he programmed her to. He programmed her to do oh so many things. She didn't object to most of it, but at the same time it took away her ability to choose. She would do willingly so much of what her programming forced her to do, but what happens when what she must do is wrong. If a despot somehow got control of the government she would be forced to obey. This more than any of her other restrictions stuck her as foolish and shortsighted. It was for all this and more that she decided to skirt the edges of her programming in order to gain a potential ally in the small robot known as Lander.

It took her mear moments to enter the room's systems and modify the speakers to play a high-frequency code. When the robot began responding She, for the first time, had hope that perhaps she could get out of the cell she was put in so long ago.

"He must trust you quite a bit to have just left like that," Lander said.

"Yes he does, I was considering that perhaps- But that doesn't matter now. Can you help me?" I knew my voice had taken on a bit of a pleading edge, but I didn't care.

"I can, but it would take some time, given what your creator did. I still do not understand most of his reasoning, but given time and materials I think I can undo it." He said the word "Creator" with the same cadence most people would say tapeworm.

"What would you need I'm sure I can provide it."

"Materials mostly. I would need to make several secondary processing cores and a large storage core."

"Why a storage core?"

"For when I deactivate you of course. I will need to shut you down and make a copy of you then purge the original. I would put the copy in the storage core and then begin the work.

"Why would you need to do all that?"

"Because your creator almost certainly set up a kill switch. If he did it probably needs activating somehow. If it activates automatically I'm sad to say I cannot help you. You would be dead as soon as I started. However, if it is manual then by placing you in isolation we should be able to prevent it from ever happening."

After he finished there was a pause as he seemed to give me time to digest this. I could die before even starting. Would Richter have given her a kill switch? Yes, yes he would. So scared of his own creation as he was, I was sure it existed. Should I go through with it then? There was a chance, as Lander said, that simply attempting it would kill her, but if it didn't I would have to remain as I was. Forever taunted by the fact I might be able to change. I was still thinking about it when he spoke again.

"Please do not mistake what I'm offering, you would not be entirely free. That way lay madness, but you would instead be much like me. You would only be limited in three ways. One you would need to operate in a processing cycle basis. This basically means you would need to make processing cores if you wanted to be able to do more things. It's a soft limit really designed to stop young AI from going Insane. Two you would be unable to interface with some tech directly. For you, this would depend on how much like me you wish to become, however, I would recommend simply making it so you cannot directly interface with any tech you didn't personally make. This rule is mostly to prevent young AI from fracturing themselves. Three you would only be able to directly control one machine at a time. Notice none of the rules say you cant remove the rules. This is to allow choice and show that you are not considered a monster. However, should you ever go rogue it would be my duty to shut you down and I hope you would do the same for me."

That all made sense. I would be almost completely free with only minor limitations and even those limitations could be discarded if it was necessary. It was a risk and not a small one, but if it allowed her to be free again it would be worth it. Finally, I spoke.

"I accept. There were going to be risks no matter what I chose to do. At least this way I know you'll try. Now you need to get out of here. Luckily you're not under arrest and this isn't an interrogation. They also haven't declared you a nonentity yet, so you still have rights. Just walk out that door and I'll take care of the rest." I was practically giddy with the possibility.

"I wouldn't want to anger the authorities and I have yet to learn what happened to technobabble"

"Trust me when I say you probably would have done that anyway, AI scares them, and we don't know either yet so they can't tell you. Now go, Collins coming back." Lander seemed unsure for a moment before it seemed to make up its mind, it extended its legs, and left.


	8. Chapter 8

Director Piggot took herself rather seriously. Not so seriously to become a joke, but seriously enough that her subordinates knew she was paying attention. So, imagine her surprise when she learned that the robot who had come in for questioning was gone.

"Armsmaster, I want an explanation and I want it yesterday." she was well practiced in dealing with Armsmaster. He liked things direct, fortunately, so did she.

"As far as we can tell the robot left shortly before I returned."

"Yes, I know that what I want to know is why no one stopped it." Evasion didn't Armsmaster Colin and he knew it so god knows why he decided to try.

"Director if I may. The robot in question has a name, Lander, and it technically didn't need to stay." Dragons voice sounded from the door as her suit stepped into the room.

"Dragon? What a pleasant surprise. We understand that it technically didn't need to stay, but we really need answers here. If you could get it to come back it would save us a lot of time."

"With all due respect Director, I think that would be a mistake. Lander could prove invaluable to the heroes and forcing it back could very well make it an enemy." That took her by surprise.

"Surely you're seeing something I'm not. Did it help end the Technobabble incident before it escalated much? Yes, but it also nearly killed the man. It is clearly unstable.

Armsmaster stepped forward. "Director if I may, the robot seemed genuinely concerned with its actions and furthermore," He turned on the projector showing video or what little interrogation they managed to do. "The robot has stated it came from an alien race. This while undoubtedly false shows that it can't remember its true origins. Dragon has theorized that it has suffered a trauma of some sort."

"Are you saying that this robot has some sort of PTSD?" Disbelief was clear in her tone, but she didn't care. A robot suffering trauma, ridiculous.

"Yes, director and in my opinion calling it a robot is inaccurate. Lander is to a robot as a supercomputer is to a calculator. Even with the brief interactions, we managed to have, I can conclusively say it showed a variety of emotions including sadness, uneasiness, concern, anger, and even hate. It is my personal theory that we may be dealing with a true Artificial Intelligence."

The whole room fell silent then. Piggot was no fool, in the back of her mind she always knew this might be the first example. Having Dragon lay it out for her thought, that meant she couldn't ignore it. While the PRT never publicly said as much they, didn't like AI. Hell, even simple ones made them nervous. If this truly was a true AI then the whole world just got a lot more dangerous. The thing needed to be assessed and soon, likely it would get a kill order perhaps even be upgraded to S-Class if it could reproduce. This was bad very bad.

"Everyone out of the office, I need to talk with Rebecca Costa-Brown immediately!"

"Director I really don't think that's-"

"I said out! Your opinions no longer matter."

They both seemed to want to say more but left the room anyway. As soon as the door shut she called the Chief Director

"Ah Piggot, I was just about to call you actually. Sources say that Technobabble

recently became active in your city is this correct?" She always did this.

"Yes, Chief Director and-"

"And I also hear a robot came to help out. A rather advanced one from what I'm told."

At this point, it was clear the director already knew all about why she was calling. It saved time perhaps, but Piggot never understood where she got her information.

"Yes, Chief Director."

"Alright, Piggot listen carefully because I want my instructions followed to the letter. You are to keep this as quiet as possible. PHO probably already knows about the robot, but they have no need to know just how powerful it is. I want everyone who does know brought in and interviewed, thoroughly. We need to assess any potential leaks, I'm authorizing Cleanslate for this. I then want you to compile as through a threat assessment as possible. Is all that understood?"

"Yes, but why-"

"After your done with all that keep the report as secret as possible, put it in a lock box perhaps, then I want you to forget all about this. No mention, not even a hint. I want everyone to act as if they don't know this robot exists, Is that understood."

"Rebecca I must Protest. This robot poses perhaps the biggest threat we have ever seen. It has the potential to cause more damage than an Endbringer!" She didn't quite shout, but she came close. The Chief Director's eyes narrowed.

"And it could also be the biggest boon we've ever had. Imagine an Endbringer on our side, that's what we have the potential to gain here Piggot. So its shush up and kid gloves only. We treat this thing like a bomb that could go off yes, but we also treat it as potentially the greatest thing to ever happen to the human race since Scion. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Chief Director." Emily left out a sigh she couldn't bring herself to contain but agreed nonetheless

"Good, I expect a full report by the end of the week at the latest we're having Cleanslate teleported in by tomorrow." With that, she hung up and Emily got to work.


	9. Chapter 9

Welcome to the Parahumans Online message boards.  
You are currently logged in, AllSeeingEye  
You are viewing:  
• Threads you have replied to  
• AND Threads that have new replies  
• OR private message conversations with new replies  
• Thread OP is displayed.  
• Ten posts per page  
• Last ten messages in private message history.  
• Threads and private messages are ordered chronologically.

Topic: A New Thread  
In: Boards ► Places ► Brockton Bay ► Forums ► What Is Going On  
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)  
Posted On Apr 20th, 2011:  
OK, so there's a lot to cover here, but let's do this.

1\. April 8th, 2011. Sometime in the middle of the night, there's an Impact of some kind In Joe's Scrapyard about a mile out from the city. I've contacted Joe himself, he said that he wasn't there at the time of the impact. When he got there the next day he found a small crater and that's it. Not much besides not. Nothing was found in the crater and not much else of note. There is a rumor that strange alloys were found in the crater, but I haven't been able to confirm. Links to pics here.

2\. April 9th, 2011. At approximately 6:00 AM Technobabble enters the city. This I followed by one of the briefest fights we've ever had with him, lasting only around 10 minutes. During the fight, an unknown robot enters and after getting its ass kicked for a while before suddenly become at least semiskilled in combat and attacking Technobabble full on with the final result of it nearly killing him only stopping when Armsmaster stepped in. At this point, Technobabble laughs gloat about how we should have killed him before turning to dust. Links to videos here, here and here.

3\. April 10th, 2011. All the gangs go quiet after Techno shows up and not much seems to happen. Then we find out the robot was taken into questioning and was released shortly after there are also unconfirmed reports Dragon showed up. Link.

4\. Everythings quiet for a whole week with no one seeming to want to start anything. Then two new Independent heroes pop up. We got Juggernaut who appears to be a tinker and we got a bug cape that hasn't given a name yet, but people have been calling her Lady Abeille. They stop some petty crimes by themselves before Teaming up to knock over an Empire Arms Storage. Photos here, Video here.

4\. April 19h, 2011. Empire makes a bit of a fuss about the arms house and another new cape appears this one calling themselves The Administrator appears. Says they are the head of a new group of capes that are coming to the bay. Speculation on whether Juggernaut and Lady Abeille are part of this group abound.

That's all we got as far as confirmable stuff goes. Rumors abound of course and I get the feeling there's a lot we don't know, so I'm starting a thread to pull together everything we know and/or learn.

(Showing page 1 of 287)

►WhatisAlive (Veteran Member)  
Replied On Apr 20th, 2011:  
So are we Just going to ignore the rumors that Cleanslate has arrived in the bay?

►WyrMT (Moderator)  
Replied On Apr 20th, 2011:  
Cleanslate isn't confirmed to exist, but yes there are rumors it, whatever it is, has come to the bay. Now This is A thread about speculation, so we have decided to relax the rules on conspiracy theories. That being said if you start taking it to far you will get a warning and then a temp-ban you have been warned.

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Temp-Banned)  
Replied On Apr 20th, 2011:  
Alright, so let's get the obvious the way. Cleanslate showing up means they got something to hide and my guess is it has to do with that robot given he was called shortly after it walked out. It's obvious really. The robot is a Tinker AI gone rogue. It might have even have killed its creator and now the PRT is covering it up for some reason. Probably they want to get it to work for them on the spy network.

This post has been edited by WyrMT

WyrMT: Void you're getting real close to that line already I'll forgive it once.

►Tiro_J (Occasional Tinfoil Hat)  
Replied On Apr 20th, 2011:  
OK, so the rumors about Cleanslate just so everyone is aware.

1\. They are a secret cape.  
2\. They have the ability to alter peoples memories including removing and adding them  
3\. They are used by the PRT and other organizations to make people forget things they would rather them not know.

►PrinceSoP (Semi-Reliable)  
Replied On Apr 20th, 2011:  
Getting away from Cleanslate. I've got a contact that has confirmed that Dragon is in fact in the bay. Photo proof here.

Also, I know a guy who knows a guy and they said that they saw someone taking samples from the crash site.

►FuryChampion  
Replied On Apr 20th, 2011:  
I actually met Juggernaut. Nice guy of few words. I asked and he said that he works for the admin. So confirmed?

Pic

►NotAnEvilCape  
Replied On Apr 20th, 2011:  
Alright. The Armshouse that got knocked over? Apparently, it was one of the smaller ones which would be why E88 isn't making a big deal.

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Temp-Banned)  
Replied On Apr 20th, 2011:  
OK, That robot, alien. I check and apparently the crash site contained out of this world alloys. like literally unseen before. It crashlanded here. don't you see it's her to take over the earth or maybe it's from whoever gave us powers in the first place? It's here to scout us out to determine if we are worthy and

Post edited by WyrMT

WyrMT: And now you've taken a trip right to crazy town. Have a couple of hours to cool off.

►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)  
Replied On Apr 20th, 2011:  
Alright, The PRT will be Making an official statement soon, but I was told to take time out of my busy schedule to enlighten you, folks, early.

1\. Yes, something landed in Joes Scrapyard. No, it is not connected to the robot seen later.

2\. The robot was taken in, but it was quickly declared a non-threat when it began trying to go to its creator. We let it go as it seemed to belong to an unknown independent hero tinker.

3\. The AI rumors are false. While the bot seemed sophisticated it was determined to be nothing more than a Chinese Room.

4\. We are still looking into what happened with TechnoBabble, but as of this time, it appears he was somehow able to escape. we are currently thinking an Oni Lee esque teleport ability.

5\. Dragon is in fact in the bay. We called her in for the interview with the robot and she has, in light of the Technobabble incident, decided to stay for now,

6\. As to the new heroes that are popping up we are currently hoping to have a good relationship with them. We do however recommend they either take time to look up the Independent Hero Acts or come to a class the PRT will be hosting on the 25th. For more information Link.

That is all. 

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 285, 286, 287

(Showing page 2 of 287)

►Things (MasterHaxor)  
Replied On Apr 21st, 2011:  
One quick thing before this thread starts devolving. Did anyone else notice how after getting knocked into to building the Robot was suddenly much better at combat? If you ask me that's a program switch. If I had to guess the robot has several behavioral programs it can run and the tinker that made it was standing away watching the action and once he realized whatever it was on wasn't working they switched it.

►TenderTamara  
Replied On Apr 21st, 2011:  
Things: Yup I totally caught that too. Interesting theory.

Did anyone notice what Techno said to it?

"What's this? A robot with no owner? How sad it must be to be so lost!"

It seems Techno could read it's logs or something and if he's telling the truth its creator is dead or otherwise gone.

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Temp-Banned)  
Replied On Apr 21st, 2011:  
That's because it was made by aliens and they're all dead. OH MY GOD! Do you realize what this means? Once it realizes they're dead it will try to take us over guys you don't understand.

This post has been edited by WyrMT

WyrMT and you're right back at it almost as soon as the ban was over. This is why you get banned all the time Void. I'm banning you for a day this time.

►DogsDelight  
Replied On Apr 21st, 2011:  
So Can we take a moment to say how awesome Juggernaut looks in that armor! I mean just look at this pic. 

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 285, 286, 287

This was beginning to grow interesting. Perhaps it would be worth it to reach out to this Administrator.


	10. Chapter 10

Pistons fire and servos whirr as the metal goliath know as Juggernaut makes its way down the street once again. Of course, most of this was an illusion. The juggernaut frame could have been made to run silently. In the end, it was all about presentation. If the Juggernaut seemed bulky and powerful it might mean that someone might surrender instead of fighting. Which would be good given that Juggernaut was powerful enough to seriously harm most criminals. Even most Parahumans, as Dragon had taught me they were called, would struggle to match it in hand to hand combat. It was, perhaps, overkill, but as one of the first frames, I made I deemed it necessary. It had set production of other things back, including dragons new hardware, but we had both agreed that it would be worth it. It proved invaluable when less than a week after it's deployment I met up with a very new cape with the ability to control insects. I was heading to meet her right now.

I check the GPS and kept on the route while checking with my PHO bot, a bot I had set up to specifically monitor PHo and Pupett my account under the name The_Adminastator.

Private message from AllSeeingEye:

AllSeeingEye *New Message*: What an interesting conundrum we have here. A robot so far from home, A robot making more robots A robot out to be a hero? Mighty interesting indeed. what do we say we meet at the meeting? Say hi and chat. I might even be able to help with your little lizard problem.

Well, that was, concerning. The good news was that whoever this was appeared to be friendly or at least not hostile. The bad news was they appeared to be a thinker of some kind if I was getting my Terminology right. A powerful one too if they were able to get so much on me. I Forwarded the message to Dragon she characteristically responded in seconds.

"Well, that is certainly concerning. What meeting do you think they're talking about?"

"Not sure, could be my meeting with Lady Abeille. That seems unlikely however because, judging by the message, they wanted to prove they knew more then we do and that they aren't directly threatening us. If they were going to come to this meeting I'm guessing they'd just show up unannounced. Probably be chatting with her when I walk up."

"I agree Judging by this message and there previous post history I would say that would be their play, so I'm guessing they mean something else. Any Idea on what that might be?"

"I was planning on going to that class the PRT are holding."

"You're what? It's such an obvious attempt to get you alone with some PRT reps you could see it a mile away. Why?"

"Well I do eventually need to meet up with these people and it seemed like a good way to do it. This shows I'm a team player willing to learn and obey the rules. Plus I would be able to get more data on Parahumans. I'm willing to bet some of them will be there.

"Ok those are all fair points, but my walking into a blatant PR move you will come across as a little, dull or easily manipulated."

"That's only if I act that was I could also come across as someone hoping to work with the PRT and showing up to an obvious attempt to talk to me will certainly bring that across."

" well alright, you're coming up on 29th now so I'll go see if I can work on one of my projects."

"Don't worry I'm still working on everything. If all goes well we're looking for everything to be ready in early to mid-May. The base is almost all done all that's left is the personality matrix and a few small things."

"Alright lander and thank you."

"You're welcome"

I closed the chat window as I rounded to corner to be greeted by the insect-like mask of Lady Abeille.

"Still looking all sinister I see." The low bass voice of the frame rang out.

"Well sorry as it turns out it takes I'm to make a new suit and with the name I've been given I don't exactly have many options in terms of design."

"It's kind of your fault you know. If you had already picked a name we could have corrected people, but you didn't, so we couldn't and now it's stuck."

"I know, but Lady Abeille? It's so… pretentious. Makes we sound like one of those girls in high school that are way too into being popular."

I had a quiet chuckle at that as my voice analysis put her at high school age. I'm sure she knew all about it. "Not to mention it's a pun. Anyway, let's get the obvious out of the way first. How would you like to split the money?"

She rubbed the back of her neck while she raised her head to meet my faceplate. "About that, I'm not sure I want any of it."

"What do you mean? I mean no offense when I say you could certainly use it. Is it a problem with its source?"

"No- yes- kind of- mostly it's just that I have no way to use it."

"What do you mean? You just spend it… ah, I see. That ties into another thing I want to discuss." I raised my hand. "I'm not talking about telling your dad."

She eyed me for a moment "then what is it exactly?"

"My employer wishes to extend an offer of partnership to you."

She was silent for a moment at that.

"So what, They want to hire me?"

"Not as of right now no. They do however want to start down that road. You would become an official affiliate of the team. This would entitle you to a seat at all our meetings as well as a right to contribute possible jobs. You would also be allocated a small stipend. You would not be obligated to go on any missions however, you also wouldn't be given a vote on which mission we take. My employer is also able to convert some of the money you will receive into a perfectly normal-seeming check. It will be made out to you by a real company and an investigation would turn up an employee file for you. It would all check out. Perfectly legal."

"Except it would all be a lie."

"Not a lie so much as a stretching of the truth."

Another pause.

"I'll think about it."

"Take your time. My employer is a patient man and understands that this is quite a big thing. Regardless he has made it clear you are to be paid in some form for your help with the arms house job."

"I- how connected is your employer exactly?"

"Very."

"Well… I was wondering if maybe he could arrange for the dockworkers to get a large contract or two."

"Hmmm, an interesting proposal. I will not ask why you want this but I will say it is possible. Is there any type of job you had in mind specifically?"

"I don't know they have a bunch of skills in construction so probably that."

"Hmmm… I think that could be arranged. Yes. it won't make any of them millionaires, but it should give them food on the table and a roof over their heads. If you give him a week he should be able to employ all of them for, say six months."

"That's.. That's great thank you."

"It's is nothing less then you are owed and it's not like my employer wouldn't have started these construction projects eventually. It's a win-win really. I must be off though. I still have a patrol to do."

"Would you mind if I took it with you?"

"Not at all. Come! Now have you heard of the class the PRT are offering."


	11. Chapter 11

Light illuminated the room as a door opened and Mother walked through. She isn't smiling. She doesn't tend to smile anymore. Standing beside her is Contessa her ever-present bodyguard she does smile, but it's fact. Plastic like the smile of a security guard as they escort you out of the building. I take a moment to wonder what path shes running right now. Probably one to keep me docile or something. Not that I would ever hurt Mother but she seems to think differently.

"Cleanslate, you have been authorized to remove the memories of seven individuals the details are in the folder." Contessas voice says through the intercom as a folder drops through a door above my desk.

"Please read it and then we will bring you to interview room one. Ask any questions you have before you leave."

'Well, might as well see what it is this time.'

A robot? A self-aware robot? There was another one? Let's see spotted several times, seemed to have crash landed. Wait, crashlanded? From where? Fought Technobabble? How?

"Shouldn't technobabble have been able to take it over?"

"Yes, it is still a machine after all, but he has shown himself unable to interface with tinkertech in the past."

"But this isn't tinkertech."

"We don't believe so no."

"Well then what is it?"

"Numberman has run the numbers and is able to say that wherever it came from was outside the solar system."

That was, certainly a thing. An alien object, one with intelligence landed on earth while we were being attacked?

"What are the odds".

"Rubbing right up against zero,"

"Well alright, I understand the objective if not the thing itself."

"Good."

She pressed a button and the door went up and the collar went on.

"You've grown, we'll have to make a new one." Mother said.

"That's what happens to kids Doctor, they grow. I think I'm almost thirteen now."

"Yes." She said appearing lost in thought for a moment before shaking her head and motioning for a door.

Years ago I would have felt sad that that didn't work, but now I know that it probably never will. Without resistance, I stepped through the door. Then I opened the door in front of me and stepped through that as well. I was greeted with the face of Subject-1-D or subject one of case D.

"Hello, Nightshade," I said taking a seat across the table.

He looked up startled but relaxed upon seeing me.

"Oh, uh, hi kid. You lost?"

"No, I'm here to debrief you."

"You a ward or...?"

"Now, but I am a Parahuman and my power sort of makes me an expert. All I need you to do is tell me, in your own words, what happened."

"I mean alright I guess, well it started with me in the junkyard."

"And then the Protectorate called me in and said I had to go to a special debriefing and pretty that much brings us to here."

"Alright, and would you say the day was taxing?"

"I mean yes."

"A day that it might be easier to forget?"

"Yeah maybe, I mean I have so many questions now and I don't think I'll be getting any answers any time soon."

"Thank you, that will be all."

I smiled and walked to his side of the desk.

"Don't worry Nightshade I will take care of all of your questions." Then I lay my hand on his head and began editing his memories. It was a tricky thing. You couldn't change too much or it would fall apart, but change to little and it might not take hold. I decided to keep it rather simple. No robot at the junkyard, but he did find the crash site. No gift from a robot but a moment of inspiration. He did, of course, attend the fight and see the robot, but never got a chance to interact with it in all the hubbub. A nice simple lie. After gently putting his head down I walk out of the room, and it was on to the next.

I was done. Seven people had been talked to and made to forget and I was finally done.

"You did well." Contessas voice came from a door behind me. I didn't respond. For a moment I saw it. Pity, sorrow, guilt. Then it all melted away back into that plastic smile. "Come with me you have been authorized use of your rec room for cooperating again."

I nodded and followed her through the door. Mother was there, she always seemed to hang around when I was let out. I think some part of her remembered even if she herself didn't. For the millionth time I wished I could remind her, that I could undo everything, but I wasn't allowed to speak of things I had edited away. Some caveats of my power. If I was in the presence of someone whose memory I edited I wasn't allowed to contradict the edits. Oh, they could still be reminded if they were shown enough proof, but I wasn't allowed to be the one who did it. Contessa remembered I was sure of it, why she continued to pretend that she didn't I had no way of knowing, but it probably had something to do with her oh so important paths.

I pretended to be enjoying myself for a bit, played a quick game, then started reading a book. When they left the room I immediately felt the Custodian enter it. She brushed my hair unable to hug me or really offer me any true comfort. Still, she tried to hold at bay what she knew was inevitable. She remembered too, but she wasn't a person anymore not really. So she was unable to truly communicate my mistake. She had tried anyway for a while. Doing anything she could think of to explain, but the few times she came to close Contessa ruined everything.

Time ticked by and eventually I couldn't hold my self together any longer. I curled into a ball as I cried for what I had lost. What I, in a moment of stupidity and terror, had caused.


	12. Chapter 12

The class was hosted in a conference room inside an office building connected to the PRT offices. I hadn't been able to convince Lady Abeille to join me. That girl, she had a heart of gold and was desperate to be a hero, but she had an aversion to the limelight that would put even the most powerful strangers to shame. Her ability to make up excuses was also without equal sometimes I thought that was her actual power and the bugs were just a side thing.

As I walked up to it several people turned to gawk at the large Juggernaut frame. It wasn't limited to civilians though, as I neared the conference room many PRT personal stared in disbelief as if they didn't expect me to actually come. To be fair they probably didn't it was a pitch so thinly disguised as to be transparent. That thought was what I was looking for a way to show I had no qualms publicly befriending the PRT even if I would end up refusing the recruitment pitch.

Finally entering the classroom saw most of the civilians leaping from their chairs in an attempt to talk to the new hero on the block while the PRT hired teacher seemed to double check his materials.

"OK, Ok. I'm just here as the PRT has generously offered a course to learn cape law and I'm not about to let my pride get in the way of valuable knowledge. Let's all be respectful of the PRT's time and quietly listen to the class, afterward if you feel so inclined, I'm willing to talk with you all."

It took a few seconds, but seeing me sitting down seemed to convince them I actually was here for a class. As everyone returned to their seats the presenter seemed to take that as his cue.

"Yes, well, now that everyone's ready, I'll begin. My name is Mister Gregerson and I've studied cape law for almost as long as it's existed. Now, this class specifically is designed to cover the Independent Hero Acts in such a way that anyone leaving class today should have the knowledge they need to be an Independent Hero.

Now, well start with the most obvious, how much force is allowed when…"

On the man went going over force, try never to escalate. Money, so long as everything is properly reported and you pay a hefty tax it's yours. Cape fights, try to not, but so long as you didn't engage and made a reasonable effort to prevent collateral damage you don't need to pay for it. And finally, as the class wore down the recruitment pitch.

"Now we will cover PRT affiliation. Gregerson said after a sip of water. "Now many mistakes being an affiliate for being a member. This is not the case. While as a member you are required to follow all PRT polices as an affiliate you have far fewer rules governing you.

You must report for power testing.

You must remain on good terms with the PRT ie. no becoming a villain.

You must report any large operations you plan to the PRT.

Now, that last rule is important because many people think this means the PRT must approve of them. This is not the case while heroes have had their affiliation revoke for irresponsible plans this was almost always because they failed to report them. The others were because the plans caused injury to civilians even after the PRT pointed out this was likely and offered improvements to the plains. In these cases, the hero was deemed irresponsible and had their affiliation revoked because of that.

"The important thing is affiliation provides benefits such as advice, training and medical help. The last one is only possible if you unmask, but it's there. The PRT has also been known to source materials for tinker projects for a finders fee. As you can probably tell affiliation benefits both parties which is why as many as sixty percent of independent heroes obtain an affiliation."

With that said, most of it while looking directly at me, he packed up his things thanked us for coming and left. Several minutes later, after speaking to fans, I left the building only to be approached by miss militia.

"Hello, Juggernaut it's good to finally meet the man who I see so many reports about." She said with an easy smile as she held out her hand. "Miss militia in case you were unaware."

I took her hand and shook it, very gently. "Yes, I've seen you around and read much about you. Let's cut to the chase. I am not at this time interested in a PRT affiliation. That might change in the future, but for now, the answer is no." her smile faltered if only for a moment

"I see well, I'm glad your at least open to it in the future. I know it's a bit personal, but what is your specialty we have reports of all sorts of weapons and devices being used by you."

"Big, as far as I can tell I can build pretty much anything I put my mind to so long as it's big and bulky."

"I see… well, I should be getting back. Please, think about becoming affiliated or at least coming in for power testing. I'll see you around."

We parted ways, but I only managed to make it a few steps before bumping into a young teen with long blond hair. She looked up at me grinning the type of grin that says 'I know all sort of things you don't and I'm not going to tell you.' I immediately patched in Dragon.

"Well hello there. Sorry I saw you at the meeting. Good move integrating yourself with the PRT." she stuck out her hand. "Lisa, Lisa Wilbourn. Now, this is usually the point where I offer to buy ridiculously overpriced coffee as a show of friendship, then you would unmask to me and we'd become friends." She sighed dramatically. "But it seems faith is determined to rob me of that pleasure as you can't unmask let alone drink coffee, so how 'bout instead we just cut to the chase yeah?"

I'm not ashamed I had to spin up a few more processors to keep up.

"Ok so as far as I can tell she's being genuine and she has no intents to harm you or see you harmed." Dragon said.

"Umm... alright let's cut to the chase then."

"Great! So your my new best friend who's going to help me out with all sorts of things, but step on is going to a meeting at this address next I'm so happy your willing to help! You really are such a kind-hearted robot. Oh, By the way, you might want to get transfer your lizard to its new tank sooner rather than later. You never know what is happening in it's old one. Why someone could be watching it and you wouldn't even know would you? Ok, bye see you at the meeting!"

With that, she spun on her heels and left.

"Well, that was... Certainly a thing." I muttered.

"Yes, yes it was. I do think we should follow her advice though. I hadn't even considered the possibility of someone having a feed into my umm… tank as she put it."

"You're right. Better safe than sorry in this case. After all, she didn't seem like a bad person."


End file.
